Herald Trainee Potter
by stephenopolos
Summary: The wanderer and the Star-eyed interfere with Dumbledore's plot. Voldemort removed. Prophecy nullified. Harry grows up in the collegium. Intrigue, assassins, and of course magic. Updates whenever?
1. Divergence or Alternatives

_Disclaimer: What's that? No my name isn't mercedes lackey or Joanne Rowling. You actually think that I think their work belongs to me? Are you daft? Seriously. I'm just a little kid playing in the big kid's sandbox, with the big kid toys, and pushing things together that probably shouldn't be. Oh, and While characters may share names with characters in works by either author, any differences are entirely on purpose and similarities are conversely purely coincidental. And if you believe that this is an attempt to claim any right to the work of either author beyond my own twisted enjoyment then I have a bridge to sell you._

Chapter 1: Alternatives

The man stepped out of the shadows where he had been sitting while Dumbledore and crew had their little discussion about the small child now resting on the doorstep.

"Didn't those books mention why blood wards and blood magic were banned?" He exclaimed looking intently at the unpowered shields surrounding the home of the Dursley family.

"Damn Dumbledore," the epithet escaping his lips as he glanced down at the small bundle concealed from view, "when you slip into the dark arts you sure fall hard."

Blood based magics were banned by Merlin due to their corruptive nature, without a proper cleansing ritual for before and after casting the magic would twist and warp the mind and soul of the mage that called upon them. Even with the cleansing ritual blood-path magic still twisted the mind lowering the resistance to future use.

Gently he moved forward to touch the fresh scar in the shape of ihwaz the rune of defense charged by the final strike magic of the child's mother's sacrifice. He saw the darkness within it battling against that ancient magic and frowned for a second. He pulled out a phial from his pocket with a silvery white liquid within and allowed two drops to fall on the fresh scar.

After a few seconds the liquid spread out covering the scar before sinking in. A black ichor oozed from the scar a few moments later completely severing the connection to a certain disembodied spirit that was currently being forced to the other side of the world. Being no longer in a living body and the connection to the living soul of the small child its power began to rapidly dissipate.

It would live yet a while longer but without possessing a willing vessel or being contained in an artificial soul construct like the horcruxes that had split riddle's power shaving off piece after piece. It would completely dissipate and become less than a ghost, powerless to affect the living in any way.

"I hope this doesn't blow up in your face old man." He said softly before pulling the hood of his cloak over his shoulders and disappearing from privet drive. He decided he would give the Dursleys a chance at being decent people.

_A/N: If there is a reason for an authors note from here on out I believe one shall find it in the reviews section for that chapter. No promises though. Additionally. This story starts off fully in the HP universe but will quickly drop into Valdemar and almost completely ignore the wizarding world of britain._


	2. The Teacher's blue hair, or Rescue

Chapter 2: The blue haired teacher.

Harry Potter of number four, Privet Drive, had just turned five. He was not in the least bit normal to the all encompassing chagrin of his relatives Mr. and Mrs. Dursley. Both of whom would not hesitate in the slightest to inform him of such on an hourly basis. On this rare occasion of his birthday He had been informed that his name was in fact not Boy, or Freak, but Harry James Potter.

Harry did not know why Mr. and Mrs. Dursley treated him the way they did. Nor why he was just now learning his own name. A name that felt right somehow and reminded him of a gentle woman with red hair and brilliant green eyes like his own, and a lanky man with black hair that rivaled his own in the simple untamable way it went every where. For Mr. and Mrs. Dursley had had their hopes of normalcy away from 'those people' shattered the night he had been left on their doorstep. Luckily for him the lightning-bolt scar on his forehead had long since faded to a thin white line from the angry red it had been when Petunia Dursley had let forth her shrill cry for her husband to come quickly into the morning air. Its magic nullified by the actions of a heavily scarred man with white hair bleached from the interaction with powerful ley line magic.

Almost four years had passed since one Harry James Potter had been unceremoniously dumped on his relatives doorstep. However, Privet Drive was exactly the same as it had been that very day. The only thing to show any time had passed at all were the pictures over the mantle showing the Dursley family with the now five year old son Dudley. One would not know that another boy lived within this house from the evidence in the room. Yet Harry James Potter was indeed at this very house, asleep for the moment in the small closet under the stairs.

His wake up call for the morning would consist of his aunt's shrill voice as she unlocked the door yelling, "Get up! I need an extra set of hands in the kitchen. Make sure you scrub them properly," as she pounded on the door.

Outside a distinguished gentleman stood observing concealed behind a veil of magic that had two purposes, bending light around him, and telling people that he wasn't there or that he wasn't worth noticing. "Sorry harry," he mumbled to himself, "It took a bit longer than I thought to come check-up on you." He couldn't help but feel that something was off but he needed another few months to regain his strength before doing anything.

Later that evening Harry's uncle would sit down for dinner and begin to explain to Dudley that he would be expected to start school in the fall. At which point Harry's rather large cousin would begin the fourth tantrum of the day. Complaining in a loud voice that if he was to go to school then Harry should be made to go as well. He argued it would be unfair for his cousin to be allowed to stay home, between sobs of how unfair it was. His uncle relented barely a minute into the tantrum saying that Harry would have to go as well, all while grumbling under his breath about one of the neighbors informing the school about Harry's existence.

The gentleman outside having left only a few times during the day for food and other necessities having already taken the opportunity while the boy was out with his aunt and away from the wards that detected magic performed around the house to place a charm that would monitor his emotional and physical state, took his leave at this moment having verified that while slightly unkempt the boy appeared to be healthy, promising himself that he would return soon to keep an eye on the boy.

He would not get the chance to return until sometime in October after his spell alerted him that something had distressed the child releasing a burst of magic at the offending party.

Harry James Potter had been quite happy for the few short months between learning his name and starting school. A small part of himself that had been crushed for quite some time had slowly come back to life bringing his naturally inquisitive mind back into full gear. He had learned not to ask questions of his aunt and uncle, but out of their supervision everyone else was fair game! He spent every moment he could get when unsupervised by his aunt at the local library reading. Having memorized the schedule his aunt was on while she was at home, and his uncle at work. He was a bit worried that his baggy clothes and messy hair would deny him entry. His biggest break came with the two week vacation his relatives took before the start of school leaving him with the kindly old neighbor Mrs. Figg.

Mrs. Figg was an elderly lady with graying hair who lived down the street from the Dursleys. She had several rather large cats that were peculiarly intelligent. While harry didn't much enjoy having to listen to Mrs. Figg dotter on about her cats and showing pictures of each of them from over the years, it was definitely better than being subjected to the small cupboard under the stairs or the ridiculous chores that an adult would be hard pressed to finish in the time they wanted of him. He definitely found Mrs. Figg's house a far superior home than that of the Dursley's.

This had been his most enjoyable summer vacation away from the Dursleys yet. He managed to convince Mrs. Figg to take him to the library almost every day during those two weeks. He was sad when the day the brief respite from the people who called themselves his relatives ended but had already resolved to act as if he was treated in the same manner at her house as they gave him.

Some weeks, after school started he found himself on the playground being chased by his cousin dudley and a few other boys that he didn't know. When the teacher in charge of watching the motley group of children noticed she scolded him for provoking and the rest for not behaving.

Later in the day while sitting in class the substitute teacher called him to the front and berated him for his slovenly attire. When he begain to speak up the teacher told him to wait in the hall. As he walked out the teachers hair turned a stunning electric blue. causing the kids to laugh and point. Harry didn't know what to think of this. He had felt something in his stomach push as he had turned around and walked out the door.

The rest of the day was a blur. He hardly paid any attention to his surroundings being pulled from one location to the next before finally being sent home with dudley for the day.

"What is this!" Petunia yelled, holding a little yellow note informing her of a prank. "First I get a call that you got into a fight on the playground, then you pranked a teacher turning her hair blue! What am I supposed to do with this?"

"I don't know! It was like magic! one minute she was yelling at me the next her hair was blue!"

At this statement she grabbed him by the arm and tossed him into the cupboard. "No supper!" she growled out at him. Dudley could be heard snickering behind her.

The next morning when she called him in to make breakfast. He burnt himself on the stove not paying attention and dropping some of the food on the floor. His aunt screamed at him livid. Swinging at him with one of the pans she had in her hand. It dealt him a glancing blow to the side of the head. The only thing preventing his skull from being completely caved in was the momentum he already had in the direction she swung. as it was he still gained a severe concussion, his magic flaring into action sending waves of healing towards this new injury.

"Dammit" she swore. "Now look at what you've done I'm going to have to call the school now and let them know you're sick."

Arwin's head shot up the alarm spells urgently screaming in his mind, the child had been dealt a glancing blow to the head and was in severe pain. Possibly fatal this was too much, but it was his ticket to spirit the boy away. His hair had begun to show streaks of black in it having refrained from channeling ley line magic for such a long time. He pulled up the information in his head to check if the damage was bad enough to warrant his direct interference. It looked it. But the boy could wait until he was done here. "Tom," he called to the barkeep, "Looks like I'm done here, just received that message i'd been looking for and i might not be back."

"It's been good having you wanderer. Come back if you can." The barkeep nodded to him acknowledging his voice.

Arwin proceeded directly to number four, privet drive, that evening dressed smartly in a business suit with a lawyers card and briefcase. He rang the doorbell.

"Mrs. Petunia Dursley?"

"Yes," she said hesitantly.

"I represent a client who would be more than happy to help you out with a certain undesired situation." Arwin pulled out a card handing it to her. It had a light compulsion charm on it that whispered to her subconscious to allow him in. She gestured to the sitting room. "Thank you Mrs. Dursley."

"How can we help you this fine evening." Mr. Dursley said after viewing the card. The fat lumps eyes glistening with the thought of money that could be fleeced from whoever hired the gentleman.

"More how can I help you," He replied, "My client has been made aware of a certain undesirable package that was placed in your care some time ago which could make your life difficult. He has informed me of his desire to facilitate the transfer from your care to his. He has had experience dealing with the people who decided to play the cuckoo bird with your nest."

He could sense them going on edge at his words becoming slightly guarded but he pushed forward allowing another slight compulsion and calming charm to slip through his fingers at both of them.

"My client is not one of those people, though he has connections within them that would be willing to provide security measures that do not rely on the continued tenancy of your undesired guest." He spoke edging closer to the truth without outright saying give me the boy and i'll pay to have superior protections placed.

They haggled back and forth before he finally managed to convince them. It took all his training to not outright kill them when he saw the state the boy was in. As it was he channeled that fury into his act, "I see yes, a pitiful thing, I think my client will be pleased." His voice almost dripping with the loathing that Malfoy Sr. seemed so very capable of. He pulled the boy out of the cupboard sending a wave of healing magic powered by a nearby ley-line into the frail body. He carried Harry to the car he rented that morning placing him on the back seat before turning and activating the lattice of wards he'd spent the previous weeks building around the home. As they flared into life subsuming the bloodwards that had been powered by the boy and his aunt.

A secondary ward was pulled into existence which swiftly switched the connection between the monitoring charms and the bloodwards to the new wards matching intensity and magical readouts in dumbledore's office with barely a flicker making it look like the ward had only briefly fluctuated and then resumed its previous strength. The monitoring wards to inform him of the boys whereabouts within barely blinked as the new ward lied to them.

He pulled out a stack of papers and a blood pen from the US. It unlike the counterpart here in the UK did not scratch the writing into the back of the hand but pulled it from a vein in the arm and didn't leave a mark.

"I just need you to sign a few documents to make this official." He said slapping down a counter compulsion to the one dumbledore had made preventing them from doing just that with anyone else.

With the last page signed the old bloodwards around the house collapsed uneventfully. The new ones taking their place in full. The instruments on the old man's desk giving no notice of this action.

"Thank you for your cooperation Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, Now that that is complete I can tell you the new protections are in place though I would advise that you consider moving to a more suitable neighborhood before your Dudley's tenth birthday. Just a precaution mind you, It helps to not be where they expect you to be when they come calling to check on their little brood parasite." He fished out some papers from his briefcase. Much as he hated letting them get away with this abuse, the longer they went without the order of the flaming chickens knowing about his actions the better. "These are the details to an account that has been set up in your names. Your current residence can be rented out under an alias until after the freaks come calling, or sold. those are just a few options. Unless you desire to remain here and deal with them pounding on your door."

He bid them good day then drove away. He kept driving for quite some time until he entered a park with a secluded grove that repelled mundane eyes. Entering the grove he set the boy down in the midst of the trees and started throwing diagnostic and healing spells at him. It seemed this wasn't the first time he'd been injured. There was a core block and a few other inactive spells surrounding his core and mind. He gently eased a mental probe into the inactive ones his mage-sight flaring as he examined the fine weave of the spell before giving it a sharp twist that pulled it apart rendering it harmless static energy. Then he began to ease the core block off tying his own spell into it that would continue to loosen it over the next week until the boy's core was completely free. he pulled out a few potions to help counter the malnutrition and broken bones.

Setting up a shield around the area to prevent distractions keep the grove warm and prevent stray magic from entering he placed his hands on the boy's head and entered his meditative state. The boy's mind was a maelstrom of activity as it subconsciously directed magic to each of the areas affected by his treatment at the hands of his relatives. His core was already beginning to improve with even just the small bit of freedom it gained from the bond being loosened.

Arwin began building the basic shields that should have been in place had his magic been free to work normally. He pulled thoughts and memories and began to organize them into a basic system that would allow the boy freedom to change his mindscape later as needed. Then he began to edit pulling every abuse the child had endured and leaching away some of the intensity. He pulled up the buried memories of Harry's parents reinforcing them and placing them where harry could easily recall them. The next part made Arwin angry though, Someone had checked up on the boy at least twice and they had used a memory block both times on both his aunt and uncle and him.

He sunk deeper into the mind of the five year old resting on his lap and started placing information that would unpack slowly giving him instruction he would desperately need to learn to control the newly opened channels of magic. It would teach him how to instinctively and deliberately center himself and anchor his power deep within the ground beneath him.

As a backup plan he left several collections of knowledge that would only unlock in great need or if he learned about the magic they hid on his own, through instruction, or slowly after his seventeenth birthday.

When he came back to his own mind and opened his eyes it was nearing morning. Harry had finally left his healing trance and went into a natural sleep. The bruising faded and the injury to the side of his head now looked less like a blunt trauma and more like a simple scrape. What surprised arwin the most was the boy's core. It had latched onto the spell to loosen the binding that restricted it and was gently pushing the nefarious chainwork away from itself.

Perhaps that more than anything decided it for him. He would yet be here awhile longer fixing the broken mess that Albus Far-Too-Many-Names-and-Titles Dumbledore had left in his wake as the self-proclaimed light lord. But the boy needed to be sent through the gate now. He walked to the center of the grove carrying the small child. In the very midst of the trees stood an ancient ring of power built from ancient stone around a central dais on a nexus of ley line energies, not unlike the heartstones of the tayledras vales.

The foolish wizards if they but understood the damage that had been done to the magic of their country with the destruction of stonehenge. Arwin shook his head setting the boy down on the dais. before walking to the northern archway. He pulled energy from within himself, weaving strands of energy frantically like a spider building a web. Anchoring the lattice of energy to the arch he sent forth casting out with a call to the starry-eyed to guide the connection home.

_:so wanderer are you ready to return?:_

_:No, goddess I have work yet to complete in this world. But the young one I send has been dealt with harshly by the fates of this world. He needs a place to heal.:_

_:I see, His strength of character is worthy even of the great heralds of Valdemar. Send him through I will deal with the fates of this realm, he does not deserve to be their chew toy!:_

_:As you will goddess.:_

_:I think he might make an excellent champion for me though.:_ a light giggle could be heard at this.

Arwin picked the boy up and walked to the gate he conjured a stretcher and gently laid the child on it before sending it through the gate. The goddess would ensure he was provided for on the far-side.

Arwin waited a moment longer before pulling the energy of the gate back into himself destroying the connection.

He had some people to wake up from an unfair mind prison.


	3. A new life

Chapter 3: A new world

Harry son of James opened his eyes, and did not know where he was. He remembered collapsing after his aunt swung at him and the sharp pain right above his left ear, then nothing. This wasn't his cupboard under the stairs. He slowly examined the room around him and the wooden and stone structure he found himself in. Sitting in the middle of the room legs crossed was a woman in a blindingly white outfit. Brown hair covered her shoulders her breathing soft.

He moved to sit up feeling better than he had in ages. the noise pulled the herald out of her meditation.

"Ah you're awake" she said softly.

"I don't understand you," he replied a little fearful.

She sensed his fear and confusion and sent a wave of calm to counter it. He relaxed as the calm feeling radiating from her surrounded him. She looked at him with an odd expression before pointing at herself and saying "Sian" then pointing back at him.

He understood almost instantly pointing at her, "Sian" she nodded encouragingly and pointed back at him. He pointed to himself and frowned for a moment before his face lit up happily, "Harry!" he said with a broad grin.

His stomach grumbled rather loudly interrupting their discourse. he looked down for a moment motioned to his stomach and mimed eating. "Hungry."

"Hungry eh?" Sian asked even though she knew he didn't know what she was saying. She walked over to the stove where she had a stew cooking from dried meat that had been stored in the larder beneath the waystation. Dishing out some broth she carried it over to the small child and helped him grasp the wooden bowl and bring it to his lips so he could sip.

Her companion had been strangely quiet since she found him in the woods a few days ago. Making the briefest of comments before going back to whatever he was doing, he had sounded distant, distracted. She wondered what could be pulling his attention back to the others at companion's field.

_:Nolan, you've been awfully quiet lately. What do you make of our guest?:_

At her call young harry looked up puzzled. "What was that?"

_:You're a mindspeaker?:_ Sian asked aiming her thoughts his direction.

"That tickles. What's a mindspeaker?" he asked not realizing he said mindspeaker in her language instead of his own.

She guessed his question and sent her reply back. :Mind speakers can send thoughts directly to other people. you have a very strong gift to sense me talking with Nolan. I still can't understand you when you speak aloud but you seem to be picking up my language from my mind when I talk with you like this.:

Harry sat and thought for a moment before grinning back at Sian a look of fierce concentration crossed his face as he examined what he wanted to do and then sent out, _:Hows this?:_

_:A little loud but you seem to have gotten the hang of it. Can you tell me why you were alone in the forest at night little one?:_

_:I don't know, my aunt had hit me in the head after I dropped the scrambled eggs on the floor, Last thing I remember is falling to the floor, my head hurt so much. She was already upset with me for turning a teacher's hair blue at school.:_

Sian got a hint of a severe looking woman with electric blue hair scowling and couldn't help but laugh at the image. She continued projecting calm and soothing emotions at the boy all while seething that his family would treat someone with such powerful gifts like they had.

_:Feel up to walking around today?:_ She asked after several calming breaths. :We need to make sure Nolan hasn't gotten himself into any trouble.:

_:Your old clothing was quite ruined and far too big for you. Try on these.:_ Sian held up a pair of grey trainee clothes that were stored within the shelter.

After he slipped into the new clothing that fit far better than any he had worn before and was definitely far more comfortable. They both exited the shelter to tend to Nolan. Harry's green eyes grew round as dinner plates at the beautiful white horse with pale blue eyes standing before him. Never in his life had he imagined a creature of such grace and beauty. Nolan's white coat reflected the morning sun. Without pausing to consider what he was doing he walked forward and mindspoke to the companion. _:hello?:_

Nolans rich voice echoed back in his mind. _:Hello little one, you can touch me, I'm not going to disappear and your hand won't go through me like an illusion.:_

Harry reached a hand up to tentatively scratch behind Nolan's ears.

_:His gift is strong Sian, he will need better shields before he can be in a city.:_ Nolan sent the message tightly shielded to Sian.

Even with heavier shielding Harry still noticed that someone said something. But he ignored it for now He was enjoying himself combing Nolan's shining coat.

He was still weak from lack of food and tired from the days events, he fell asleep without giving Sian more than a token effort to stay awake. She found his efforts amusing, reminding her of the younger brothers she'd left back home after being chosen.

_:His shields have almost doubled in strength since this morning.:_

_:Don't tell him but we are going to have a visitor tomorrow. She should get here midday.:_

_:Oh? is that why you've been almost unresponsive since we found him.:_

_:If you must know, Alastrine was insistent I relay every observation of the young one after I sent the first message back.:_

Sian raised her brow at this, Alastrine was Nolan's daughter. It had been five years since she foaled and she had insisted that her chosen was not yet here.

She drifted off to sleep considering what was to come.


	4. Luna, the rat, and Waking Up

Chapter 4: In which someone wakes a few people up.

The scarred man walked up to Purge & Dowse Ltd. the storefront that served as the visitors entrance to St. Mungo's the old faded mannequin with a fashion from over thirty years ago stood propped up in an awkward position as if it knew it was hideously dressed with an outdated fashion.

"Right," Arwin paused looking at the mannequin, "Here to visit Frank and Alice Longbottom."

If one could imagine a dummy conveying surprise this was certainly one instance where the dummy in the store front would have shown quite the surprised expression. After a moment the dummy lifted a hand and beckoned with the index finger. Taking his cue the scarred man stepped forward through the barrier into the waiting room of St. Mungo's.

Mages in lime-green robes bustled around the room with clipboards taking notes as they questioned the various patients scattered throughout the room waiting to be sorted. Witches and Wizards approached the welcome desk where a surly witch sat with a grumpy expression as she directed people to their destination.

He entered the line with about seven people ahead of him and did his best to completely ignore them. Instead looking around the room at the multitude of signs and posters on the walls around the room. An aged metal plaque listed each floor and what injuries were dealt with there. He scoffed at the notation embossed at the bottom that read, "If you are unsure where to go, incapable of normal speech, or unable to remember why you are here, our Welcome-witch will be pleased to assist you." Right, she doesn't seem that pleased to be sitting there.

After a probably ten minute wait Arwin was finally at the front of the line, the surly witch glaring at him. "Arwin VanDreren, Here to visit Frank and Alice Longbottom," he spoke just loud enough for the welcome witch to hear.

"Fourth floor, Long term spell damage ward." She reached into a drawer and pulled out a visitor's pass and handed it to me. "Stick that on, it's your ticket in and out of the ward. Please wait off to the side a Medi-witch will be available shortly to direct you to their room."

Arwin examined the patch before sticking it to his robe over his heart. It read Long term spell damage visitor's pass. The patch was charmed so that only the hand that placed it could remove it. As he finished his examination of the patch a chatty young witch with brown hair came out of the elevator and called his name.

"Quite sad really They've been here four years now, Madame longbottom has tried everything. And Neville the poor dear, I'm not sure she wants them to wake up now the way her brother has treated the dear boy. Oh they don't speak about it but you can tell the way he looks at you as if one wrong word could see him dissolve into tears on the spot." Arwin merely nodded and let her carry on as they walked to the ward. "Oh where are my manners, I'm Elthia. Just graduated from the Healers college. Got lucky if the stories my siblings are telling me about the new potions master at hogwarts are anything to believe. That spiteful man has single handedly halved the number of students continuing to newt level potions."

She briefly paused outside the door to the room the faded parchment in the holder on the wall read F. Longbottom and A. Longbottom. "I'll just leave you to it then. If you need anything just pull the string next to the door and I'll be right along."

Slipping into the room he examined the longbottoms with his mage-sight. If anything all the attempts to bring heal them had done anything but. He would have to reverse a lot of the spells that covered both of them before he could do anything about breaking the dark red chains around their minds. He sighed taking a chair from the outer wall and moving it between the two beds in the room. Frank first he decided looking to have received the worst of whatever spell was aimed at them. He settled into the chair making himself comfortable before aiming a mental probe at the spidery web of light surrounding the patient. He slowly loosened the web examining each layer down to the one just on top of the chains this last layer he left along as it contained a trigger that was set to alert whoever placed it there if it was removed or if it detected a change in the patient. His probe grew teeth and split in a dozen directions, ripping the layers of spells to shreds and feeding the energy into the patient's core.

His next goal rendering the alarm spell impotent would be trickier he needed to shift it just so that it was still there but inactive. He pulled up from his work to glance at the time and drink something. He had been sitting there for twenty minutes.

After a five minute break to stretch his legs he settled back down to his task, reactivating his mage sight he spent a few minutes examining the red chains closely before deciding what to do. With silky movements his mental probe extended itself around the chains wrapping around and around until all of the chains were completely covered before he began to corrode the spell. This time he pulled away the mess and passed it through a crystal focus that hung from his neck before feeding its energy back into Frank's core it was partially blood based and without purifying it through the crystal it would do more damage than good.

Entering Franks mind he pushed past the haze and started rebuilding from the subconscious out until he reached the edge of an untouched area where he found Frank sitting staring at an imagined blue sky.

_:Who are you?:_

_:My name is Arwin:_

_:Nothing has helped, everytime they try I can feel it get worse.:_

_:I have a distinct advantage over them:_

_:Oh? you can let me out of this cage? Let me hug my son again?:_

_:Yes, help me repair your mind. Then you need to sleep, I still need to remove the spell from your wife.:_

The two went to work fervently pushing aside the twisted remnants of the landscape Frank pointing out everything that was wrong and helping Arwin set it to rights. When they finished Arwin led frank back out into his conscious mind before opening his own eyes.

"Shh. if you make noise now I won't be able to remove the damage from your wife."

Arwin started pulling the webwork of spells away from Alice pushing them into a ball that he fed back into her magical core. being careful to avoid triggering the alarm spells that would surely make noise if she recovered. When he finished destroying the red chains around her mind he went back to frank and asked if he would like to help find Alice and help her fix the torn landscape in her mind as well.

They both entered her subconscious pushing aside the rubble of what had been her once orderly mind, and started their work repairing Arwin was faster than Frank having more experience in the mind arts. Franks extra help though was welcome as they moved outward and pushed back the fog with rays of light and heat. When they approached a broken down cottage with wilting flowers and rickety fence they moved as one to bring it back to life.

Inside they found Alice sitting at the kitchen table her eyes tired and weary.

_:Frank! please let that be you. oh merlin. I've been trying to leave this place but the fog I just wander around and end up right back here. A few times I thought I heard Augusta's voice and my dear neville.:_

_:Alice:_ Frank choked out between tears as he hugged his wife.

After waiting for them to calm down Arwin opened the door. _:Alice your mind is your own again. Help us repair the damage from the pain curse and the mind prison. Then you both must sleep. True sleep to heal:_

Arwin turned and walked through the door Alice and Frank following behind him. As they walked the fog rolled back and didn't return where they went the ground beneath them came to life. Skeletal twisted trees straightened and blossomed with leaves and flowers. As they finished the last of the fog pushed back. Arwin showed Alice back to the world of the living and returned to his own mind.

His work finished he turned to each of them and told them they would have to remain for a few more days and fake a slow recovery of their minds. After watching to make sure both were sound asleep he turned and rang the bell his eyes weary, his legs stiff from sitting for over an hour. He turned in the visitor's patch and left the hospital.

Part 2: A Rat in the Weasels den, and other things.

Outside the visitor's entrance he paused for a moment looking at the street before shifting a little to make sure he was fully within the notice-me-not muggle-repelling charm before lifting his hand and holding his wand out.

There was a loud bang and a flash of light as a triple decker bus, the color of over ripe plums pulled up almost knocking him over. The fading gold lettering over the windshield proclaimed _The Knight Bus_. The door folded open and a young man in an uniform almost matching the plum purple of the bus vaulted down the steps, breathlessly giving the standard greeting for the Knight bus.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. My name is Nathaniel Teague I'm your conductor this afternoon."

"The Burrow in Ottery st. Catchpole if you please." Arwin cut off the speech passing the coins over to the conductor before stepping into the bus and taking a seat. He conjured a seat belt and buckled himself in ignoring the stares at this unusual apparatus.

For the most part the ride was a short one, with only a few stops between when he boarded and his destination. Though he might have sworn that they were lost at least twice. For a split second he thought he saw the Parthenon outside the window before the bus gave a jolting shudder and it was gone.

After a brief stopped at the leaky cauldron to let a few of the witches and wizards disembark and a few minutes wait for new passengers to board. He found himself getting off in front of a building that more resembled a child's toy building blocks haphazardly stacked with little consideration for what normal people would consider architectural soundness.

* * *

A little girl with blond hair was thoroughly absorbed in one of her mother's books on elemental creatures, she was looking at an unnamed air elemental vaguely resembling a cross between a dust bunny, tuft of cotton wool, and possibly a cumulus cloud with large eyes.

The description read that the eyes varied in color from a light purple to dark blue grey. These creatures were mostly harmless and invisible to the naked eye. The book informed the reader that advanced mage-sight would be able to give a more detailed view of the elusive air elemental. Followed up by speculation on it's relation to the wrackspurt which was known to cause confusion, forgetfulness, and general fuzziness of the mental faculties.

The girl froze looking up with a dazed expression before running to her mother. "Mommy! Something's different!" she called out into her mother's workshop as she ran through the doorway.

"He's not there anymore."

"Who's not where?"

"The dark haired, green eyed one, he's just gone. It's like he was erased or something. Everything has changed. The whole picture is cloudy now."

_A/N: Author's notes for this chapter in the reviews, use the drop down at the top of the reviews page to jump directly there if needed._


	5. Coming to terms, or His new life

Chapter 5: Coming to terms, or His new life.

Sometime during the night Harry woke up with a start and looked around thinking to himself. _This isn't my cupboard._ As he examined the small room he found himself in memories of the day came drifting back into his mind. _At least here is better than being yelled at by Aunt Petunia._

Sitting up he looked over at the small wood stove that was still banked for the night. A smokey oil lamp cast a warm glow from the far corner. His memories of his relatives seemed faded more distant. He could remember being locked in the dark cupboard under the stairs but the feelings of fear and panic he had associated with those memories felt more distant somehow less painful than before.

When he pushed back into his memories he was startled and pleased to find memories of his parents clear and powerful. The love they felt for him before they died strong even now through a memory. They made him oddly happy and at the same time filled him with sorrow that they would never return.

Finally able to remember what he had lost, and freed from the mistreatment and reproach of his aunt and uncle, his emotions took him. Sitting up, arms around his legs he silently cried into his knees.

* * *

Sian woke to the small child's strangled sobs, his tears streaking down his face. She moved as quickly and quietly as possible to sit next to him. She could feel his emotions running wild and knew he needed this. As much as she wanted to pull him into her arms and hold him, his body was still trained to flinch away from touch, and that might prevent him from coming to terms with the memories and emotions he was dealing with.

She would wait until his emotions calmed before doing anything beyond sitting there and whispering encouragement. She had not expected him to reach this point until much later. She wondered if there was more to how she found him than what she could see. It was odd him being right in her path and the strange clothing he had worn that was far too large.

While she was puzzling this all out, Harry had started to return from his emotional storm. He noticed she was there through tear filled eyes and in a move completely unexpected for both of them crawled into her lap. She wrapped her arms around him, just holding him for what felt like an eternity, she lay back down him already fast asleep curled up in her arms.

* * *

Sian was first awake in the morning slowly untangling her arms from the sleeping child. Outside the sun was breaking over the eastern horizon lighting the horizon. She stirred up the coals coaxing the fire back to life pushing the chill out of the morning air placing a pan on the stove top that stood over the fireplace.. As quietly as she could she picked up a water jug and went outside to the well pump. After letting the water flow until it was clear she filled the jug and went back inside.

By the time she had finished mixing the batter for the pancakes the fire had warmed the stove enough to cook on she used some dried fruit from the storage adding them crumbled into the batter before expertly pouring some into the hot pan.

She was flipping the second cake over when the bundle of blankets on the cot stirred. The messy black hair showing first, followed by bleary sleep filled emerald green eyes. He yawned blinking way sleep and the dried remnants of last nights tears.

She poured the rest of the batter for the third and final cake, then placing one on a plate she motioning for him to take it and begin eating. He took it without complaint setting it on the fold up table and sat down quietly, waiting for her to finish and sit down before eating.

_He is far too quiet and reserved for how old he looks. He must be half starved, yet he waits for me to finish cooking before eating himself._ Sian thought to herself as she moved the last pancake from the stove to her plate moving to set down.

* * *

Part 2: To catch the rat: continued.

Arwen stepped up to the front door of the burrow and knocked.

"Just a minute!" Mrs. Weasley yelled. A short time later indistinct yelling could be heard from within something about spiders and then two red headed twins pulled open the door. Shouting a breathless hello before pushing past him and disappearing around the house towards the backyard.

A few moments later Mrs. Weasley appeared at the door, face flushed, and a little breathless, muttering something about those two ruffians. She smoothed back her hair and smiled.

"Sorry about that, How can I help you Mr...?"

"Arwin VanDreren, sorry about dropping in like this."

"Ah and how can I help you Mr. VanDreren?"

"I own a magical creature emporium in germany. Always fascinated about new creatures, yes. One of my grand nephews I forget which one, have too many nowaday, mentioned your son Charlie had told him about a rat that your son Percy found."

"Yes, I believe he found it shortly after halloween nineteen-eighty-one." Molly looked puzzled as she thought about this.

"Usually I'm not interested in such creatures, but my nephew had mentioned in his letter that the rat had been with you going on four years now. You understand most domesticated rats live on average between three and four years, and their counterparts in the wild live much shorter lives. It's not a matter of the care they receive, it's simply in their nature to have such an incredibly short existence. Anyway given the rat was already an adult when your boy found it, and since I was in the area I was merely curious if you would consent to a few magical scans of the thing."

Molly was rather curious now herself given the information on how long rats, even magical ones, were expected to live. "Oh, dear why don't you come in and have a seat I'll go see if Percy is willing to consent to having his pet examined. For its health of course." She motioned him inside asking, "Would you like some tea while you wait?"

"I think a glass of tea would be delightful Mrs. Weasley."

She went to the kitchen and returned a few moments later with the tea set. Then headed up the stairs to Percy's room.

While she was up there Arwen took in the room he found himself in. The living room of the Weasley home was a rather crowded, cosy room, with a sofa and armchairs. There was a large fireplace, a wooden wireless set, and the family clock. Along the wall was a large bookcase with what passed for wizarding fiction on one shelf, a few books by the latest defense sensation Gilderoy Lockhart. Even had he not known the man was a fraud he still would have considered the books complete fiction. Above that were a few tattered and worn family copies of the household book of spells, and 1001 cleaning charms for the busy witch. He had just finished browsing the selection of titles available when Mrs. Weasley came down the stairs holding a mid-sized cage with a scraggly common grey rat. Percy weasley following closely after her with a concerned expression.

Mrs. Weasley set the rat on the coffee table next to the tea set in front of the sofa, before motioning for percy to sit. Arwen walked around the table and crouched in front of the cage. Nodding to Mrs. Weasley he pulled out his wand and started casting the standard veterinarian charms while at the same time reaching out with his mind to paralyze the rat. He had cast the fifth or sixth charm before they started bringing up disturbing results written in silvery lettering above the cage. He cast a silencing charm around the cage to block out noise, and stood up.

"Mrs. Weasley this rat is not a normal rat. My last spell there told me it was an Animagus."

"What - but how?" Mrs. Weasley's face went white. "I'm sure this must be some joke of the twins."

"I assure you Mrs. Weasley there are no spells but mine on the rat. If you would firecall the Madame Bones, I'm sure she would like to know why an unregistered animagus has been pretending to be your sons pet rat for the past four years."

Percy looked like he was in shock. Mrs. Weasley gave the briefest of nods, "Percy go on upstairs," she commanded her son before throwing a pinch of floo powder into the fireplace and calling out the address for Madame Bones office at the ministry. A few minutes later she stepped back from the fireplace and a severe looking woman with greying hair and a monocle stepped out.

"I'm not sure what is going on here but this had better be important, I just received a note from St. Mungo's telling me they had signs of improvement in the Longbottoms. Paperwork for their safety while recovering is going to be a nightmare." Madame Bones grumbled.

"I'm Arwen VanDreren visiting for business reasons, If you would cast the animagus revealing spell Madame Bones." Arwen said as he moved the cage to the floor and transfigured it to be large enough for a grown man.

"Of course." Madame Bones pulled her wand from her sleeve and whispered an incantation through the bars at the grey rat, which promptly changed into Peter Pettigrew. She gave a gasp as she recognized the supposedly dead wizard.

Arwen quickly cast the herald truth spell that called a vrondi air elemental to the person in question wrapping them in a soft blue glow around the head and shoulders.

"I'm holding a truth spell my family discovered on him. Works better than veritaserum, after I remove the silencing spell from around the cage ask him why he's here and anything else you want to know." Arwen calmly told her as he removed the spell from around the cage. He sent a second spell to permanently lock Peter's animagus abillity.

She set out a parchment and standard dicta-quil to record.

"What is your name?"

"Peter Pettigrew"

"Why were you pretending to be a rat."

"I was hiding from vol-voldemort supporters who were freed."

"Why did Sirius Black try to kill you?"

"I was..." He fought the truth spell stuttering before gasping out, "potter's secret-ke-keeper."

"Did you give the potter's location to you-know-who?"

He fought against the truth spell before saying,"Yes"

"Are you a death eater."

Sweat poured from his brow as he answered, "Yes"

"How long?"

"Since sixth year, though I.. s..sp..spied for him on dumbledore f...fifth year."

Madame Bones was seething now. A gleam filling her eyes as she asked one more question.

"Name the marked supporters of You-Know-Who."

There was no resistance this time. "Avery Sr, Alecto and Amycus Carrow, Crabbe, Barty Crouch Jr., Antonin Dolohov, Gibbon, Goyle, Fenrir Greyback, Jugson, Igor Karkaroff, Bellatrix, Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange, Walden Macnair, Lucius Malfoy, Mulciber, Nott, Augustus Rookwood, Selwyn, Severus Snape, Thorfinn Rowle, Travers, and Yaxley" He dutifully listed off each of the known death eaters that were still alive, including karkaroff because of his betrayal of the rest for a lighter sentence in the hope that karkaroff would be retried.

Amelia Bones nodded at each name on the list frowning and muttering, "that won't stick" at the mention of Malfoy's name. She looked up at Arwen after the list finished. Arwen released the truth spell.

"I'll need you to stick around in case we need you as a witness."

"Of course, I'll be staying at the Leaky Cauldron for the next few weeks for business."

"So, Mr. VanDreren. Any chance I could convince you to teach me that truth spell?"

"I might be persuaded to but its a family spell and I would need some assurance that you would not spread the knowledge of it around. Nothing so binding as an oath I assure you."

Madame Bones shook her head slightly gathering up her things, "This is going to be a nightmare."

"You know it, before you go Madame Bones, forgive me for saying so but the clean up after the last war was a bit of a curiosity of mine, and I discovered that Mr. Black never received a trial."

"That is going to ruffle some feathers. I'm going to need to arrange his transfer to one of the holding cells at the Department." With that she turned the whole cage into a portkey straight into one of the highest security cells and activating it.

"Now if you don't mind I need to use the floo back to my office." She told them before disappearing into the fireplace.

"Mrs. Weasley my apologies about your sons' pet. If I may I would consider it a matter of honor to replace it for him."

Mrs. Weasley sat in her favorite recliner, a little dazed over the events of the last hour. She gave a nod to acknowledge his words.

Arwen stepped to the door and gave a brief whistle holding up an arm that was now covered in a leather gauntlet. A slightly larger than normal Little Grey Owl that was definitely not as little as its name implied landed on his closed glove. _:Cinereus, I know a boy who just lost his friend, he could do with a friend like you.:_

The little grey blinked slowly at him. _:Introduce me and I will see:_

"Mrs. Weasley Cinereus here has decided he would like to see if he can get along with your son. Would you lead the way?"

Mrs. Weasley still slightly befuddled nodded slowly pushing herself to her feet before walking to the stairs. Arwen followed behind her as she led him up the stairs to Percy's room. She knocked on the door. Percy called from within and a few moments later the door opened. His eyes were puffy and looked as if he had been crying. Arwen tossed him a glove and told him to put it on.

Percy did as he was told and before he could do much more Arwen tossed the bird into the young lads arm. The owl looked into his eyes for what felt to Percy like a very long time before turning his head to Arwen, _:He is trainable:_ Cinereus sent with a hint of humor.

Arwen chuckled to himself as he left thinking, With luck Cinereus would pull the boy out of his shell and he would give those twins a run on their pranks.

* * *

Part 3: Chosen

Harry still didn't know quite where he was, He did know that he was happier than he'd ever been. After breakfast, Sian and him had played a bit of a word game, pointing at things and listing words that related to the object her in the common tongue of Valdemar, and him in English. They used mind-speech to clarify words when confused.

Sian was pleased with the progress he was making in being more open. He seemed confused by the washtub and the little stone basin that held a lightly scented soap water that was for washing their hands. They had packed and cleaned up after themselves leaving the waystation clean. Venturing outside on Nolan's back they headed up the road back towards Haven the capital of Valdemar continuing with their game by pointing out plants to each other.

Near midday they paused for a meal of trail rations. Sian wanted to make the next waystation before dark. Alastrine would be waiting there and she wanted Harry to have as much time with her as he could getting to know her before falling asleep.******  
**

Harry welcomed the break, his legs wobbly from sitting in the saddle for so long. He stretched as instructed, allowing some feeling to return to his aching muscles. They finished their meal and climbed back onto Nolan's broad back.

Harry wasn't board yet with their game but he had started to ask questions about everything around him enjoying the chance to learn and be inquisitive.

_:Sian, what are shadows made of?:_

Sian tried explaining switching to mind speech whenever he faltered on a word. "Shadows are what happens when an object blocks the direct path of light from the sun or a candle." she said holding her hand over the back of the horse to demonstrate.

"Why is the _:sky:_ blue?" Harry faltered on the word for sky having to mind speak it.

"I'm not sure, but I think it has to do with how light from the sun passes through the air. I'm sure one of the artificers at the collegium know the answer."

"Sian? Where does the sky end?"

The questions went on between their game of naming all the things that came into their path. He would spend a few minutes thinking about her response, and then thinking up the next question.

Finally, almost time for the evening meal they neared the waystation, a beautiful white companion with unusual blue-green eyes met them as they pulled up. She held back as they dismounted before walking up to harry and putting her head up to his.

_:I am Alastrine, and I choose you:_ Harry stared into her eyes, he filled with warmth and love, tears falling down his cheeks he knew with those words she wouldn't leave him. The strangle hold his aunt and uncle had around his heart lost its last grip and fell away. He felt himself sink into her side, and poured all his feelings out, telling her all that had happened from his time with his aunt and uncle to the moment she chose him.

When he finished the sun had set and Sian was waiting with a pot of stew she had kept warm for him. He took the bowl she dished out and tiredly ate before collapsing onto the cot she had set out for him.

_AN: see review for this chapter._


	6. Shields

Chapter 6: Shields

_:Again, your shields are starting to fade:_ The voice called in the back of his mind and a gentle nudge pushed him from behind. He set his feet firmly again and sunk back into his mind pushing the wall into existence in his mind. The more detailed she had told him. A bead of perspiration trailed down his brow and into his eye stinging and distracting him. The wooden stave smooth against his hands cracked against Sian's.

"You're broadcasting your thoughts and I imagine that you would be picking up mine without me even noticing if I weren't shielding." Sian had told him gently before they started. So here they stood practice staves in hand, She would correct his stance and grip before showing him how to block a particular attack. All mixed with instructions on how he should be about shielding his mind. "As soon as you can properly hold shields even while sleeping or when distracted then we can continue into Haven. I'm mixing this with some basic staff defence because the other method I know would probably have you in tears and I can't teach the meditation based method."

"Imagine a wall don't start with a complete wall start at the base build it slowly imagine each brick of the wall as you build it up. Make the wall surround you. When you are ready hold that in mind while we practice. Something about learning how to fight and mentally shield at the same time makes your shields stronger and more likely to kick unwanted guests out."

Breakfast had been the best he could remember better than the burned toast and cup of juice his aunt usually gave him. He wasn't sure about this business with the staves and imagining a wall around his mind. But Alastrine reassured him several times. Since they couldn't head up to Haven and the Collegium just until he had full shields they had proceeded down the next branch of the road to continue Herald Sian's circuit.

This was the best week of his life that he could remember. Sian and he would have breakfast just before the sun came up then they would practice with staves and his shields. After lunch they would ride the path to the next waystation or town. Towns were interesting but he was glad they didn't stay long at them. Even with only a few people at each town their thoughts still bled through the shields he did have. The first town they had stopped at was the most trying. It felt like all people were trying to talk to him at the same time. their thoughts echoing around in his mind by the time they left he had a terrible headache. That was what convinced him the most to work hard at shielding his mind.

A sharp crack brought him back to the present out of his reminiscing, his arms slightly numb from the blow to the stave. He reinforced the shield in his mind somewhat feeling the spots where the wall had started to loose it's sharpness. He split his attention between the wall and the moves of his instructor. "At least you're getting better at holding your shields even while distracted. But you should always be aware of your surroundings. If you must daydream at least keep your eye's open and your attention focused on what you are doing."

"Yes, Sian." Harry replied between breaths as he moved to block the next attack, and hold the mental shield as she tried to push past the wall he had built. They continued sparing for a while as she showed him another block and a few different attacks. Then they broke for lunch.

"We will reach the third town on this road today. Do you remember the names of the roads and towns this far?"

"Yes, you said we met up with Alastrine on the Exiles' Road. You found me in the forest near Deercreek, Briary holding was our first stop, I did _not_ like the headache I got there. We passed Halfway Inn and Whitefell on the way to Forest Reach. Soroll is up ahead. We should be there just in time for the harvest fair, then you said we're headed to grayhall which should take a few days." He stumbled a few times on some of the names but eventually managed to say all the names correctly and in the right order.

"Yes, and when we get to greyhall we'll see if your shields are good enough to head south to runefork, you'll have to be careful there and stick close to Alastrine. We'll only stop long enough for resupply then back on the road for a few more days to reach Hall just off of Exile's Road and then Haven."

Harry nodded taking note of the place names as she continued.

"We should make Soroll by this evening. I expect you to join the village children and have fun. Keep your mental shields up while we are there ok?" She looked at him concern filling her brown eyes.

* * *

The heavily scarred man stepped from the shadows his cloak grey against the dim. The streetlights had not yet turned on for the night, their soft steady glow was missing from the twilit street. Overhead the sky threatened with low hanging bleak clouds to let loose a deluge on the unsuspecting street of Privet Drive.

He scratched an ear slowly examining the street. He wondered for a moment why he felt drawn back to this place before shrugging the feeling off. He went where the star-eyed willed. There would be a reason he was here and he would endeavor to discover exactly what that reason was.

He slipped into mage-sight closely examining the wards around number four. All appeared well. The new ward that he had tied to petunia seemed much stronger than the one that had been tied to Harry. He paused for a moment curious. The fat lump of a boy was sitting on the porch out in front. His blond hair plastered to his forehead. _Interesting_, the man thought looking at the boy. He had a mage core it seemed. Though it was blocked at the moment. The man shifted into the shadows making himself invisible as he waited.

The great lump dursley called the boy inside and sent him up to bed. Arwin slipped into the house a few hours later ghosting up to the boy's bedroom. He paused examining the feeling of the magic in the place. He pulled a stone out of his pocket and held it to the door, which glowed faintly blue before a feeling of weight dropped off. That made him just a bit mad. The old meddler had placed magic suppression wards around this room. And perhaps a few other wards but they were obliterated when he pulled the magic from them into the null stone.

He raised his eyes on closer inspection of Dudley. The boy's magic was completely bound. He couldn't tell if they had been placed by Dumbledore or if they were natural from his reaction to his parent's actions. Oh well, serves them right if their own son ends up magical, he thought vindictively as he gleefully dissolved the binding. Have to do something about that attitude. He pushed in and found signs of tampering. Subtle nudges to the boy's behavior that pushed him to gluttony and bullying more so than would be expected. Now that the boy's magic was unbound these changes were being fought and unravelled. He would probably slim up in a few weeks as his magic pushed his body to become better.

He slipped down the stairs and slowly examined every room in the house a few items had compulsions on them malice and discord. They appeared to be items that had been intentionally sold by a dark wizard to harm mundanes. He replaced the compulsions with charms for happiness, and calming. These items looked to be the result of the Dursley's attempts at social climbing. Likely gifted by other unsuspecting mundane well to do couples who just wanted to be rid of something they felt overly ugly. There was a vase in the corner of the living room that glowed ominously a hatred compulsion pulsing slowly with a dull red magic. He twisted the magic until it changed to a soothing blue and green signifying health and healing.

It seemed that dumbledore didn't actually intend for the Dursley's to kill the boy. Just mildly verbally abuse him. He had only placed a few minor compulsions on the dursley's themselves. None of the objects in the house matched his magic or eccentricities. Arwin decided to add one more ward to the house that would strip any harmful compulsions from objects or make the person bringing them want to take them back to wherever they got them from instead of bringing them into the house.

He slipped quietly out of the Dursley's home, back into the night he moved some ways away before apparating directly to the leaky cauldron. Tomorrow he would visit the goblins and throw another wrench into the works by exercising his new guardianship. He gave a feral grin at the prospect that the goblins would be proud of.

* * *

Harry looked off in the distance to the welcome sight of Soroll about an hour away. He was getting tired from sitting in the saddle all day. Alastrine huffed at him, and he mentally reassured her, :It's not that I don't enjoy spending time with you, It's just that my muscles are getting sore and i'm still not used to riding:

:Perhaps young one we should take your mind away from the situation, try this: she outlined an image of him holding his hand out and a vague feeling of warmth flowing from his gut into his arms and out his fingers into a ball of light. :Concentrate hard on the feeling as you hold your hand out:

He did so and maybe thirty minutes later was rewarded with the tiniest soft blue glow from a tiny ball of light hovering in his hand. Alastrine eyed it over her shoulder. :hmm.. not bad a bit more concentration and you should be able to make a bigger light that will last longer: she said as the light faded a few minutes after he stopped concentrating on that warm feeling.

_:You'll want to only do that while we are alone for now Harry, at least until we get to the collegium:_ Alastrine said as they approached the edge of the fair on the outskirts of the town.

"Well met Herald Sian!" A well dressed gentleman with brown hair and a slight resemblance to Sian called from a booth. "I see you have brought a young one with you."

"Well met Mayor Colin." Sian called back. "This is soon to be Herald Trainee Harold Potter" She grinned at her slight pun.

"Please! Just Harry." He begged as Alastrine trotted the rest of the way to the man. Harry gingerly picked himself out of the saddle climbing back to the ground with Colin helping him down. He still felt overwhelmed given the changes over the past week from his previous existence with his former relatives. He was starting to look healthy for his age still a bit on the lean side. Sian had given him grey trainee leathers to wear since it would stave off the questions of why he was riding a companion generally headed away from the main road to Haven. Though it seemed to have the opposite effect.

"Harry this is my brother Colin. I don't know how he managed to convince these fine upstanding members of the community to make him the mayor but somehow it happened." She winked at him as she said this. "Colin, this is Harry, I found him about a week ago in the woods near Deer Creek he was injured when i found him and no sign of how he got there. on the way back up the road Nolan informed me that Alastrine was coming to see my new rescue."

"Not even around him for a day and he get's chosen eh sis? Looks like being a herald might be contagious." Colin grinned at her.

Harry just stared at the antics of the two siblings bewildered. "I'm just going to back away slowly now."

Colin Just laughed even more at this while Sian soothed Harry reassuring him that this was just normal sibling banter. Colin composed himself before informing them, "You're just in time there is a bard in town tonight who has graciously volunteered to perform this evening for the festival, and Tomorrow I'll put you to work with resolving the few disputes we've managed to have since the last herald came through."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

* * *

Sian and Colin watched as young harry free from the restraints of the saddle stretched his legs and ran to join the ongoing game that the other children were playing in the field alongside the road.

"He seems mature for his age." Colin commented to his sister. Their eyes focused solely on the diminished figure of the young five year old child in light grey trainee clothing.

"That he is, I haven't been able to get much out of him, but what I have ensures that if his former guardians live within the bounds of valdemar the Guard will be wanting to have a very thorough conversation with them." Sian replied after a moments consideration. "He has a very strong mind gift and potentially an even stronger Mage-gift."

The siblings stopped for a moment along the side of the road. Sian took in the site of the town. Just outside there were brightly colored tents and wooden booths set up in neat and orderly rows. There were the sounds of the games and music followed by the scent of roasting and frying foods filling the air.

"A bit larger than last time I was here."

"It's been a good year."

They turned back towards harry and the other children in the field watching as he joined in a game of what on earth would have been known as Red rover or in britain by its more aggressive counterpart British bulldogs here the name of the game was more along the lines of Forcing the city gates.

"It's good to see him play."

"I agree. I wouldn't force anyone to spend weeks alone with just you for company on a journey." Colin replied teasing. "Come lets get something for dinner, I'm sure you're dying to know what's been going on around here. Your young charge will be fine with the older more responsible children they'll bring everyone in before it gets dark out."

"If he mentions staves, I'm just teaching him how to hold the staff and stances I wouldn't normally but it helps with the mind exercises that he is doing to build shields. There is also the damage from the hands of those beasts that were his previous guardians, strangest thing that, he's healing much faster than usual. I think he grew some over the past week on the road."

"Surely you aren't teaching him staves! He can't be more than five! Maybe six..."

"Five," Sian replied. "He is probably the most mature five year old in all of Valdemar. And it's not actual sparring, just holds and stances. Its a form of meditation the new weapon master at the collegium started teaching. Easier for younger students because the body is active instead of trying to sit completely still."

* * *

_Goblin bankers love revenge_

Arwen pulled his brown cloak on and pushing his dark brown hair out of his face left the small rented room for the alley behind the Leaky Cauldron. Diagon Alley may have been impressive to new and aspiring young first generation magic users, however, it was nothing of the sort for him. Having seen the alley when the first shop opened it's doors after construction many years ago, the alley seemed a bit worn out to him.

Certainly it had it's charm. That picturesque quality of a medieval shopping center without the smells of refuse that would have normally been in the drain running down the center of the street. And the people were certainly clean compared to the medieval counterpart. For the most part though, the buildings for all the loving care over the years and the repair from the blood war the decade previous shone in his mage-sight with obvious signs of magical repair.

Perhaps the only building that held any sign of being fully cleansed of the taint from the blood war was the goblins bank Gringotts, which the goblins had cleansed by their own blood magics and sacrifices. That the wizards believed these warriors beneath them was their own particular brand of insanity. Even more foolish that the ministry for magic had rewritten all the history books to claim the wizards had won not just the last war but all of them was setting future generations up for failure.

The goblins were warriors and the extent of their underground domain would never be understood by the arrogant wizards. The only thing that was more pleasing to the goblins than bloodshed was profit. Their only rival the Dwarves but they had won economic dominance in britain over the dwarven nation centuries previous through shrewd business and a very short war.

Arwen limped his way past the guards at the door and into the bank. The guards bowed with much more reverence than normal. It was early enough that the bank was empty of but a few customers all of which were the type that paid no mind to him not wanting to draw attention to their own business. Wizards are quite lazy creatures he mused to himself having noted the lack of activity early in the mornings.

He spoke quietly with the teller in perfect goblin. "I have a matter relating to a change of guardianship for the underage heir of an account. I trust the goblin nation would welcome a chance to put an end to what is possibly the largest misappropriation and extortion of a client's funds in the history of Gringotts. Don't worry I understand there was mostly nothing you could legally do to counter the actions of the wizard responsible."

The goblin's grin at this point was quite feral. By perfect chance he was one of the few goblins at the bank that had been part of the discussion on the funds in question that were being removed from the potter accounts. Something that must be understood at this juncture about goblin language that most wizards would probably never pick up on is that the word for wizard in goblin language is very closely related to the goblin equivalent to snape's favorite insult 'Dunderhead.' The few wizards who do manage to learn enough goblin to actually discover this distinction usually end up laughing right along with the goblins before transferring their wealth to another more sane magical community like one of the ones in the Americas or the Australian one. Which is part of the reason why the last official friend of the goblin nation as far as the british and european community is concerned was Godric Gryffindor. It's quite the insult within goblin society to call another goblin a Wizard.

"Come Wanderer," The teller motioned for Arwen to follow him into one of the many meeting rooms warded for privacy in the bank. The goblin showed no surprise at the identity of the man before him a man of unique distinction in goblin culture as an ancient warrior cursed to wander the worlds until some unknown condition freed him. None knew why he was cursed nor the conditions that must be met to free him. His crimes whatever they where having been covered by time.

Arwen took out duplicates of the legal documents that had been signed by Harry's relatives along with a few other documents and forms setting them neatly stacked on the table in the room. He arranged everything for proper effect and turned to the door as the account manager for the potter accounts entered the room.

"When is the last time you performed the ritual for magical cleansing?" He immediately questioned the goblin who entered the room. Noticing a slight web of compulsion and control charms laced delicately around the goblin. The goblin looked at him with abject horror before rushing out the door.

A short time later a second goblin entered the room his clothing of a finer cut than the previous goblin. "Gringotts is in your debt for bringing those spells to our attention. I am Gorefang, Senior Account Manager. Dumbledore is a fool if he believes the goblins will be inclined to support him. This latest breach shall not go unpunished."

To simply state that goblins hate thieves is far too simplistic. Goblins hold a deep and abiding loathing for wizards that attempt to steal from them, or attempt to obtain what is under their protection through underhanded means. That is if the person doing so has not already given the goblins a generous cut in the profit.

The one thing Dumbledore hadn't done in his arrogance of the superiority of wizards was discuss with the leader of the goblins their generous cut for ignoring his misdeeds. He had in fact spectacularly failed on that front having only bribed a minor goblin account manager and one who had no real authority in the bank, and had only been able to do so through the use of an almost glaringly conspicuous amount of compulsion and control charms.

No self respecting goblin, sane or not, would have even dreamed of going along with any scheme to defraud the potter family out of respect for their ancestor Godric Gryffindor. One of the few wizarding families to ever treat the goblins with anything approaching a proper healthy respect for a warrior race.

"The young Mr. Potter is currently firmly out of the reach of one Albus Dumbledore. His relatives having shown the cowardice that is disturbingly common among humans have signed his wellbeing over to myself. I need gringotts to gather the records relating to the account activity for the past five years and prepare to gather anything that has been taken and return it. Your standard fees are expected deduct them from the amount you recover from the Dumbledore accounts."

Gorefang grinned sadistic, Arwen had said the magic words for the goblins. They understood taking down an enemy, and contrary to some beliefs they understood family and most importantly for bankers they understood money. Dumbledore would not know what hit him.

"Also I would like you to begin a diverse investment of the available funds in his trust. I understand the family vaults and family investments cannot be touched until Mr. Potter reaches his majority. Look to technology companies in the mundane markets. Just don't invest everything in one or two companies."

"If there are any journals from his parents in his vaults I believe Mister Potter would be most appreciative if they were to find their way into his hands at some point in the future."

"Agreed. Next up is the removal of Albus from the Potter proxy. I would prefer leaving him in the dark as long as possible but if he decides to abuse the proxy, then the Dowager Longbottom if she is agreeable should receive the position. Additionally I need to know if there are any marriage contracts on file for Mr. Potter as he will be unavailable and probably unwilling to fulfill them."

"There is one filed by his former supposed guardian Mr. Dumbledore. It was kept as evidence but didn't take hold due to the fact that Mr. Potter's true guardian at the time was Sirius Black. It was between House Potter and House Weasley for one Ginevra Weasley. It has been nullified rather thoroughly. The laws and charter of House Potter actually forbid marriage contracts without the full knowledge and consent of both involved parties."

Arwen and the Goblin shared momentary laugh at this before continuing. "Now I understand that the old wizard has sealed the Potter will. Does that cover both joint and individual wills? or just the joint Potter will?"

Gorefang looked shocked for a moment then called a messenger into the room requesting the information. "While we are waiting. If one or either individual wills are available and capable of being activated I would like the one that puts Mister Potter under the guardianship of House Longbottom to be made active. Lord and Lady Longbottom if you have not heard from other sources already are both quickly recovering."

* * *

_Growing unease for manipulative old farts._

Far away in a castle hidden from mundane eyes by powerful wards, the aged wizard Dumbledore sat absently in his favorite chair. He was musing over the plans for the upcoming year when the fireplace interrupted his thoughts.

"Albus!" The voice of Arabella Figg called from the fireplace.

"Something is dreadfully wrong, my cats haven't seen the boy in weeks. His relatives are still home, so they can't be on vacation."

Dumbledore sat up straight, thoroughly awake and alarmed, _surely they can't have killed the boy_, He glanced to the whirring monitors attached to the wards around number four. _They all still read perfectly normal. Though the blood based ward was stronger than usual. Which was odd considering it had been steadily weakening over the past three years._

"I'm sure it's all fine Arabella, he's probably grounded for some reason. Young children are prone to get into trouble now and again." He reassured her calmly confident that his various instruments would alert him to any difficulties. He briefly reconsidered his decisions before making a weak excuse to himself about the boy needing the protection of the blood wards, an idea he had taken from Lily's sacrifice.

"You better hope so Albus." Arabella deflated, she would get nowhere with him like this. Though the feeling of unease didn't leave her. Albus insisted the boy was safest at his aunt's home, and much to her growing apprehension over the past two years nothing would dissuade him.

Albus would go to bed that night, confident his plans were all on schedule and everything properly in motion though a small portion of his mind had a niggling doubt forming with a growing unease. Harry needed to look up to him, needed to see him as someone who rescued him from the mundane world. Yes he assured himself everything will work out exactly according to plan.

* * *

_In which we check in with the Longbottoms._

Frank Longbottom and his lovely wife Alice were growing rather tired of pretending to be recovering. Sure they needed the therapies to rebuild their muscle strength. After over four years of being in little more than a vegetative state their muscles had quite atrophied.

The first protection they had enacted involved a switching spell on any potions proscribed by the corrupt healer secretly funded by Mr. Malfoy to monitor and prevent just their sort of recovery. It involved an amulet that assessed the nature of the potions being given them. Recognized potions for building strength and providing clarity where allowed through. Any other potion would be switched with a muggle soft drink of similar colour.

Beyond that they had put their auror training to use taking shifts sleeping and watching the other. The last attempt a few days previous had Frank demanding that the healer be taken off their case.

Despite the difficulties of dealing with healers frantic to explain their miraculous recovery, Frank and Alice found themselves looking forward to the day ahead of them. Frank's Mother Augusta would be bringing their son Neville to see them today. It was hard for them to know they had missed so much of their sons life. They hoped he would be able to forgive them.

Frank leaned over to his wife and gently roused her from her quiet contemplation. "Alice," He pointed to the door, where their son fidgeted under the watchful gaze of his mother.

"Neville! Mum! Dad!" both exclaimed holding their arms out. Neville was rooted to the spot for the first time in years seeing both his parents fully aware and sane he didn't know what he would do. Tears ran down his cheeks as he stumbled forward into his mother's arms and then his father's.

* * *

_Oh hey! readers! um... so, between neville and luna.. There is a poll up at my profile or there should be..._


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